Frank Lloyd Wright
b. June 8, 1867 – d. April 9, 1959
Role
Architect, Taliesin Founder
Dates of Involvement
1893 - 1959 - Years active as architect
1932 - Taliesin Fellowship established
1937 - 1959 - Worked at Taliesin West
Context
With a long and storied career spanning seven decades, Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most influential American architects of the twentieth century (Allaback, 2000). Frank Lloyd Wright is particularly known for his contributions to the Prairie School of Architecture, a late nineteenth and early twentieth century architectural style originating in Chicago, Illinois with Louis Sullivan, Wright’s mentor (Pfeiffer, 1997). This style, characterized by horizontal lines, long rows of windows, and low-pitched roofs reflecting the American prairie, was an attempt to create an indigenous American architecture, free from classical, European influence (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, n. d.).
Prairie Style buildings were designed to blend in harmoniously with their surroundings (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, n. d.). The influence of this style can be seen in Mission 66-era modernist architecture, especially at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center. In contrast to National Park Rustic-style “architecture” that stood out from the landscape, Mission 66 buildings were designed to be unobtrusive and streamlined in design, both in appearance and in how they directed visitors throughout the parks (Carr, 2007).
In 1932, Wright and his third wife Olgivanna, started the Taliesin Fellowship, an apprenticeship program, later evolving into the The School of Architecture at Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, n. d.). From 1937 to his death in 1959, Wright continued to work out of Taliesin West, his winter camp in Scottsdale, Arizona (Pfeiffer, 1997). In 1964, five years after Wright’s death, Taliesin architects, along with Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, the president of the Frank Lloyd Foundation and Taliesin Associated Architects, were called on to plan, design, and construct a new visitor center at Beaver Meadows in Rocky Mountain National Park (Allaback, 2000).
Education
After first attending classes in engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright left home at twenty years old to pursue architecture in Chicago (Pfeiffer, 1997). While in Chicago, Wright was hired by the firm Adler and Sullivan, where he worked under the prominent architect Louis Sullivan for six years. After the two split ways for unknown reasons, Wright established his own studio in Oak Park, Illinois, the Chicago suburb, where he had his first major successes as an architect (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, n. d.).
Career
Wright is a prominent, world-renowned architect who left behind a legacy unmatched in its scope and influence. He is particularly known for his work in the prairie style, but his work runs the gamut from urban office buildings, to Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, and New York’s Guggenheim museum (Allaback, 2000). His work shows an attention to organic, modern design, balancing “contemporary innovations with centuries of tradition,” (Allaback, 2000).
